How to Make Good Indian Curry -Chicken,lamb,Prawn or beef

My years of living in the Far East and India always filled me with so much pleasure, savouring and enjoying the delicious spicy flavoursome foods. On my return to the UK my disappointment at the so called Indian and Chinese food, cooked for the British pallet, filled me with a great feeling of loss, most foods tasting extremely bland and boring. Information on how to create your favorite curry recipes.

I have created this blog to bring flavour and sighs of pleasure into your lives after eating my exciting delicious curry recipe's

CHICKEN CURRY and RICE -- INGREDIENTS

(Optional--chillies,red or green,peppers)
Dry fry all above spices 1-6 over a medium heat about 1 minute to release aroma. Do not burn. Grind spices either in a pestle and mortar or an electric grinder, till they become a fine powder.

a) Add dry ground roasted spice powder from ingredients 1-6 to 7-19 in a blender,grind to a smooth paste. b)Add a tablespoon of choice oil to a large solid saucepan heat over a low heat, add paste and fry gently for about 3-4 minutes to cook rawness out of the paste. Stir continuously to prevent burning.
c) Add a tin of tomatoes to paste, a dessert spoon of mango chutney, 1/2 a cup of water, 1/2 a tsp of black pepper and salt. Add a bay leaf, a small piece of cinnamon bark. Bring sauce to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes.
d) Cut a whole chicken into portions, or use ready bought portions, take all skin off chicken portions and cut flesh with deep slashes so that curry sauce can penertrate chicken and also it will cook quicker.
You can use lamb,beef or other meat of your choice instesd of chicken.( Meat can also be marinated overnight in the fridge for even more intense flavour.
To do this use a bought tandoori or tika paste,mix with yoghurt,lemon juice and a little oil. After cutting slits in meat rub marinade into meat and leave overnight in fridge)
This is also the way to cook tandoori/tika meat, but insted of putting in a curry sauce the meat is cooked on a high heat in the oven on a tray.
e) After sauce has simmered for 10 minutes add chicken/meat portions to curry sauce. I do not pre brown the meat in oil to seal before adding to curry sauce, I think it makes the meat more tender not too, and the sauce penetrates the meat more, Also Ithink it more healthy not to fry meat.(The choice is yours)
Add more water if sauce is too thick at this stage to prevent sticking and burning on the bottom.

Sauce will be thickened later.
Place a lid on saucepan and simmer for about an hour till meat is cooked. Check and stir often to make sure sauce isn't sticking.

f) While curry is cooking tinly slice a medium onion and Red Peppers orYellow or Green, fry till soft and brown . Put to one side. Boil either new or old potatoes to accompany meal,(can be made into bombay potatoes if prefered, but I find there's enough flavour in curry and plain potatoes compliment the sauce.)

g) Once curry sauce and meat is cooked about an hour ,pour curry sauce into another solid based pan add either,a satchet of coconut cream,a cup of coconut milk or about 5 tablespoons of yoghurt. The choice is yours,I prefer coconut cream. If you prefer coconut or yoghurt can be left out ,but sauce will be hotter.
While you are doing this keep meat hot. Bring sauce up to heat and boil to reduce till thickens, add thickened sauce and cooked peppers and onions back to cooked meat, add chopped corriander to taste.
Put on lid and keep hot.
h) Cook rice while thickening sauce, I prefer the large pan of water method, bring a full pan of water to the boil add salt to taste. Add one cup of rinsed rice for two people,cook till soft about 10 minutes.
This method allows the rice to move freely in the pan so it doesn't go sticky. There are many methods,but I won't cover them here.
For a hotter curry red or green chillies can be added to the sauce at beginning of cooking.
Either leave whole and put a small slit in them to release heat.or remove seeds completely.
There are so many different chillies of many grades of heat, the choice is a matter of individual preference,

I'm now semi retired, which suits my enjoyment of foreign travel as often as I can. I enjoy eating out and cooking my own meals, which my girlfriend say's she prefers to restaurant food! I love painting in water colours and oils.